dosh

Definition

Slang

nounmoney. This is a working-class term from the early 1950s which was falling out of use in the 1960s, but which, like many similar words (bunce, loot, lolly, etc.), was revived in the money-conscious late 1980s. It is a favourite with alternative comedians and ‘professional cockneys’. The original would seem logically to be the old African colonial term dash, denoting a tip or bribe, but other authorities claim that it is influenced by doss, in the sense of the price of a bed (for the night).